Convair General Dynamics Corporate Records
Scope and Contents
The Convair General Dynamics Corporate Records documents the heritage of Fleet, Consolidated, Stinson, Consolidated Vultee, Convair, and, finally, General Dynamics in San Diego since 1935. The materials include engineering proposals, reports, correspondence, press releases, and many other documents pertaining to the inner workings of this renowned lineage of companies.
In addition, the collection has over 400,000 images, of which 250,000 are from the General Dynamics’ Space Systems Division documenting the Atlas ICBMs and Space Launch Vehicles from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s. The Atlas is noted as being the nation’s first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, the booster for the first satellite to project a human voice from orbit, the launch vehicle for America’s first astronaut to orbit the earth, and the launch vehicle for the Surveyor missions that laid the foundation for the Apollo program.
Dates
- 1935 - 1995
Creator
- Consolidated Aircraft Corporation (Organization)
Biographical / Historical
Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (Convair) was formed in March 1943 with the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft corporations. General Dynamics purchased a majority interest in Convair in 1954 and it continued to produce aircraft and components until General Dynamics began divesting itself of its aircraft and spacecraft divisions in the mid-nineties.
For half a century, Convair was the largest civilian employer in San Diego. Employment peaked in 1943 at 41,000 employees, of which forty percent were women. “Nothing short of right is right” was a popular slogan espoused by Consoliated to instill pride of workmanship in its thousands of employees. Consolidated/Convair was responsible for building some of the most significant aircraft in aerospace history, including the PBY Catalina, the B-24 Liberator, Convair 880 airliner, F-102 Delta dagger, and the nation’s most reliable launch vehicle: the Atlas.
Extent
187.5 Cubic Feet (150 Gaylord archival U1215 boxes, 12x15x10 inch dimensions per box.) : Collection contains documents, photographs, pamphlets, booklets, blueprints, plans, letters, correspondence, and other materials.
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Convair General Dynamics Corporate Records consists of around 150 boxes of various documents, booklets, plans, photographs, correspondence, and other administrative and facility papers relating to Fleet, Consolidated, Stinson, Consolidated Vultee, Convair, and, finally, General Dynamics in San Diego since 1935.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The materials in this collection were acquired by the San Diego Air & Space Museum in 1995 and 2013. The collection that came in 2013 has some ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) and proprietary restrictions.
- Aircraft accidents
- Aircraft design
- Astronautics
- Consolidated Aircraft
- Convair
- Engineering drawings
- Flight training
- General Dynamics
- General Dynamics Astronautics Division
- Lindbergh Field
- Mergers and acquisitions of corporations
- Reuben H. Fleet
- San Diego (California)
- United States Navy
- United States. Army Air Forces.
- United States. Army. Air Corps
- Wind tunnel testing
- World War, 1939-1945
Creator
- Consolidated Aircraft Corporation (Organization)
- Convair San Diego (Organization)
- Title
- The Descriptive Finding Guide for the Convair General Dynamics Corporate Records
- Author
- Zach Zontek
- Date
- 2025
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the San Diego Air and Space Museum Library and Archives Repository
2001 Pan American Plaza, Balboa Park
San Diego 92101 USA US
(619) 234-8291
(619) 233-4525 (Fax)